Floating City

During a recent trip to Venice, I had an unusual desire to make images in which people are not central. Instead, place became the focal point, largely because the floating city to me is magical, haunting, and utterly unique. Venice is built on pieces of wood; pylons cut centuries ago and pounded into the marsh. I marvel at the concept.

The gondolas are quintessential to the area. The distinct way of travel and the timelessness of their surreal quality I hoped to capture with use of a long exposure. The water and the gondolas moved in that extended time lapse and became blurred. Appearing like ghosts, the sloops seemed imbued with human-like spirit. There was amplified mystery in their shadowy, curvaceous profiles.

Opening the frame to consider the expansiveness of the scene, I was struck by it’s grandeur and drama. There’s infinity above and a whimsical wisp of cloud in the sky that swirls and causes the eye to descend and travel to the glowing facade of the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore. The 16th-century Benedictine church designed by Andrea Palladio and completed in 1576 shines in contrast to the allure of the water and the brooding darkness of the gondolas close to my feet where I stood to make the image.

Solid and ethereal, Venice is a place like no other. These are rather meaningful sketches—in photographic form—of a place that moves me deeper into the relationship between my surroundings and myself. I hope you enjoy them.